My Favorite Linux Software

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This is a list of my favorite software applications for Linux. I hope this list helps you discover some new and amazing software that runs on Linux. I've provided links to the project webpages for more information. Installation of the software should be done via your distros repository such as Ubuntu (sudo apt install Kdenlive) or Arch (pacman -S kdenlive). Some of the software is available as a SNAP or Flatpak so check for universal package options if it is not in your distro repository or software store.


Click On Headers To Sort Table Below


Name Category Description Link
Kdenlive Video Open source non-linear video editor with powerful video creation and export abilities Link
Lightworks Video *Not Open Source* Professional video editing tool Link
Sublime Text IDE Coding and text editor Link
OBS Studio Recording Desktop recording and live streaming software Link
GIMP Image Editor Image editing tool for Linux Link
Inkscape Image Editor Vector graphics and drawing tool Link
Tilix Terminal Tiling terminal emulator Link
Fish Shell Smart command line shell (Set Fish as your default shell instead of Bash: chsh -s /usr/bin/fish) Link
Brave Browser Web browser with adblocker built in Link
Firefox Browser Web browser with container tabs Link
Telegram Social Messaging and social site with strong privacy and encryption (only partially open source) Link
Whalebird Social Mastodon desktop tool for social media Link
Zoom Video Conferencing *Not Open Source* Best reliable video conferencing software Link
Steam Gaming Valve based Steam store and game management tool Link
Itch.io Gaming Indie game store and game management tool Link
Lutris Gaming Gaming platform and game management tool Link
Calibre E-Books Ebook management and conversion tool Link
Flameshot Screenshot Powerful and simple screenshot tool with additional editing captabilities Link
Krita Drawing Digital painting and drawing tool Link
PIA VPN VPN Private Internet Access VPN tool and GUI for internet privacy Link
Bitwarden Password Manager The best password manager on the planet. Cross-platform and open source. Link
SimpleNote Notes Simple note taking tool that saves to the cloud. Link
SMPlayer Video Player Video player and playback tool with built-in codecs Link
Strawberry Music Player Music player and organizer with beautiful interface Link
Guvcview Webcam Webcam settings editor that works with many webcams for changing default settings Link
Darktable Photography Photography workflow and management tool (RAW support) and video/image downloader works with diverse set of devices including iOS, Android, Nikon, Sony, etc. Link
Shotwell Photography Photo manager and downloader Link
Screenly Digital Signage Digital signage tool used with Raspberry Pi Link
Nextcloud Cloud Server Nextcloud is a powerful self hosted cloud server application for communication, storage of media, notes, contacts, etc. Available as a SNAP. Link
Mega.nz Cloud Server Mega.nz is a privacy and security focused version of Dropbox. Link
Kodi Media Server Kodi is a free media player that is designed to look great on your big screen TV but is just as home on a small screen. Link
Remmina Remote Desktop Remmina is a remote desktop client written in GTK+, aiming to be useful for system administrators and travellers, who need to work with lots of remote computers in front of either large monitors or tiny netbooks. Link
Ukuu Kernel Tool Unfortunately some major distros run behind for up to 6+ months on kernel versions. Use ukuu (with caution) to upgrade the kernel for hardware support. Link
Thunderbird Email Free desktop email management tool Link
ProtonMail Email Secure and private email service with free and paid options Link
FeedReader RSS Desktop RSS feed reader and management tool Link
Deja Dup Backup Easy to utilize backup utility for saving and backing up important files Link
Bleachbit Maintenance Clean your system and free disk space *use with caution* Link
Multiboot USB ISO Burner Burns Live ISO images onto USB drives. Multiboot allows for multiple Live ISO images to be burned onto the same USB drive Link
Clonezilla Backup Powerful disk imaging and cloning tool Link